Aloha loyal friends and readers of The Sweetest Way!
On this lovely morning, I’m writing from Maui, Hawaii, my new home sweet home.
Surprised?
Aren’t we all.
It has been a wild year, and that’s putting it delicately. In fact, let’s just call a spade a spade: 2018 fucked. me. up.
It would be futile to try and explain just how earth-shattering 2018 was for me, at least in a single blog post, but suffice it to say that I am NOT the same Leah you used to know.
In a good way though. Promise.
And while I fully expected to call Maui home eventually, I couldn’t have predicted the how or the when of it all. In that sense, I just sort of followed my gut, making this decision because I knew it was right for me.
Putting all that self-love stuff I’m always talking about into practice for once.
I’d wanted to start a new life here ever since my visit back in October of 2017. In fact, that was the first time I’d felt such a strong sense of knowing when it came to where I wanted to put down roots. It shook me to my core.
Moving to Maui was all I could think about after that.
As I’ve mentioned many times before, I didn’t feel at home, well, anywhere throughout my travels. I guess you could say I was waiting for that place that just spoke to me in a way no other place had–the place that finally called me home.
And on September 30th, 2018, I stepped off that one-way flight from Seattle into the balmy Hawaiian air and immediately burst into tears.
This was it.
Maui had called me home.
It still makes me tear up when I think about that moment.
And it’s probably also obvious by now, but I’ll just state this is plain terms as well: I moved to Maui by myself, and I am no longer engaged.
That’s probably the one part of the story where I won’t be going into great detail, out of respect for Hans as well as my own personal boundaries.
You see, one of my biggest lessons for 2018 was learning how to set healthy boundaries, and my personal relationships are where I draw the line in the sand when sharing my story online.
Content creators, for the record, don’t owe their audiences every little detail of their personal lives. And I thank you in advance for respecting my choice on the matter.
So, let’s just jump ahead to the part where I landed in Maui.
You know you’ve made a good choice for yourself when your life just starts to flow, and that’s exactly what happened from the moment I arrived. Thankfully, my mom had just moved to Maui two months before me, so I was able to stay with her until I found my own place.
I had been scheming up a plan for my new business, Kindred Soul Studios, for a few months already by that point. I was, probably for the very first time, taking myself seriously as an entrepreneur.
Blogging had been a fun experiment and all, but it never really felt like a success and I’d always struggled to think of myself as a business owner.
This time, things were different.
I’d sought out photography mentors and a business mentor and was working diligently on a business plan. I took the time to craft a vision I could be proud of, which, I will admit, isn’t something I ever did when starting this little blog here.
It’s funny how motivation finds you when you’re doing work you’re really passionate about. When you’re finally operating from a place of purpose.
When I woke up on the morning of October 1st, I hit the ground running. That very same day, I bought a car (the first car I’ve owned in almost a decade!). I was on Instagram searching for local photographers to connect with, and setting up shoots with friends to build my portfolio.
Within two weeks, I’d found my dream apartment in Maui’s upcountry: a cozy, mostly-furnished studio with white walls, the sweetest landlords, and an impressive view of the West Maui Mountains.
And when I say “my dream apartment,” I mean that in no uncertain terms. I had been visualizing the perfect place to live for months at that point, and in my mind’s eye it looked pretty much just like this one.
Except, what I got is actually BETTER than what I’d hoped for. Manifestation, y’all. It’s real.
Initially, I almost found it hard to believe just how easily Maui was accepting me; I’d heard from just about every Maui local I’d ever talked to that the island is, er, quite particular about who she lets stay.
It felt like such an honor to be creating a new life here, much less with (relative) ease.
That’s not to say I haven’t faced any challenges in the last five months. I mean, I did just end a relationship with a man I loved (and still love) very deeply. And I still to this day find myself in the midst of a season of serious emotional upheaval, with past traumas resurfacing at a rapid clip, demanding to be felt.
It has been nothing short of cathartic and healing, but it leaves me feeling disoriented and rundown more often than not.
Through the marathon process of helping my mom downsize her life in Washington in preparation for the move, I learned SO MUCH about myself. I also RE-learned a lot about myself, things I had long since forgotten.
As every good American family does, we held onto boxes upon boxes of relics from my childhood years. And in wading through the mess to decide what to keep and what to let go, I got to revisit the sweet and innocent little girl that I’d once been–you know, before life brought its hammer of destruction down onto that delicate little head with the choppy home-cut bangs.
I remembered the animal lover that delighted in studying the rainforest, who checked out the same book on dog breeds from the library week after week, and who dreamt of one day becoming a marine biologist.
I got to read her poetry, remember what subjects she liked and didn’t like in school, and learn about her biggest fears (spiders; losing people she loved).
I came to understand how she developed her love for travel, and that Maui had always held a special place in her heart (in one short story about visiting Maui for Christmas, she called it her favorite place in the world and talked about the rush of adrenaline she felt when the plane took off).
And in the process of becoming reacquainted with little Leah, I understood that the tough emotional work I was doing was exactly the thing that was going to set her free.
The layers of hurt I was shedding each time I crumpled onto the floor in a heap of sobs were slowly but surely revealing that childlike essence, bringing me deeper into the heart and more closely resembling my very soul.
In hindsight I can clearly see that the experience was largely responsible for my ability to even RECOGNIZE what it was my heart wanted (moving to Maui, even if it meant going alone), and to trust it enough to make the choice. A painful choice, yes, but the right one.
I’m grateful for the time I was able to spend in Wenatchee, my birthplace and the place I associated with so much pain. It was healing, and provided me with a great deal of much-needed closure. But as soon as my mom left, the last shred of connection I felt to it vanished with her.
I knew–my heart knew–it was time to move on.
So here I find myself, thousands of miles from my previous life and what feels like thousands of miles beyond my comfort zone, doing things on the daily that scare the living shit out of me (I wish I was exaggerating).
But hey, growth is what we are here for, so I’m not so much complaining as stating facts.
Mostly though, I’m tending to that sweet little girl inside of me who finally got her dream of living in her favorite place on earth, and found the courage to pursue something that really sets her soul on fire.
Hawaii is home for the foreseeable future, and Kindred Soul Studios is my primary business. This blog isn’t going anywhere, and I’ve got a plan for it, rest assured.
I will continue to share the rest of this journey with you as it unfolds, as honestly and vulnerably as always (probably more vulnerably than you’re used to, actually).
I know many of you are probably still wondering about the logistics and practical aspects of the move, so that’s on my list of topics to tackle next as I ease back into creating content for this site.
For me, the move was fairly straightforward; for my mom, it was a different story. I have little in the way of possessions, whereas she owned a home, vehicles, and was traveling with pets, among other things.
So, to give you a well-rounded idea of what moving to Hawaii really looks like, I’ll do my best to cover it all. Especially the mistakes we made, so you can avoid making the same ones.
If you have specific questions for me about moving to Maui or anything else about living life in a tropical paradise, please drop them in the comments and I’ll be sure to address them in future posts.
Until next time, much love and aloha, and thank you for hanging with me through this most recent of major life overhauls 😉
You are appreciated more than you know!
